China Charts a Pragmatic Approach in Global AI Race

 

 

“The U.S. is spending billions of dollars and burning gigawatts of energy in a rush to beat China to the next evolutionary leap in artificial intelligence -- one so great, some boosters say, that it will rival the atomic bomb in its power to change the global order.

 

China is running a different race.

 

Since the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT nearly three years ago, Silicon Valley has spent mountains of money in pursuit of AI's holy grail: artificial general intelligence that matches or beats human thinking.

 

In China, by contrast, leader Xi Jinping has recently had little to say about AGI. Instead, he is pushing the country's tech industry to be "strongly oriented toward applications" -- building practical, low-cost tools that boost China's efficiency and can be marketed easily.

 

The diverging visions represent a head-to-head bet with significant stakes.

 

If China's gamble turns out to be wrong, it could find itself lagging far behind the U.S. in the most consequential technology of the 21st century.

 

But if AGI remains a distant dream, as more people in Silicon Valley now believe, China will be in position to steal a march on its global rival in wringing the most out of AI in its current form, and spread its applications worldwide.

 

Already in China, domestic AI models similar to the one that powers ChatGPT are being used, with state approval, to grade high-school entrance exams, improve weather forecasts, dispatch police and advise farmers on crop rotation, say state media and government reports.

 

Tsinghua University is rolling out an AI-powered hospital, where human doctors will be assisted by virtual colleagues armed with the latest data on diseases.

 

Intelligent robots are being deployed to run automotive "dark factories" and inspect textiles for flaws while still on the loom.

 

Beijing is putting the full muscle of the state behind its vision. In January, the central government unveiled an $8.4 billion AI investment fund focused on supporting startups.

 

China's cabinet recently spelled out broader ambitions for the campaign, calling for an even-stronger push to integrate AI into science and tech research, industrial development and other areas to "comprehensively empower" China's economic development by 2030.

 

China is also more actively embracing open-source models that are free for users to download and modify, making it cheaper and easier for Chinese companies to build businesses around the technology.

 

The Chinese government's enthusiasm for more-practical uses of AI is visible in Xiong'an, Xi's built-from-scratch dream city two hours south of Beijing.

 

In February, the city announced the release of an agricultural AI model, using technology from the Chinese startup DeepSeek, which gives local farmers guidance on crop selection, planting and pest control. The city's meteorological service is using DeepSeek to improve the accuracy of weather reports. DeepSeek is also helping local police analyze case reports and decide how to respond to emergencies.

 

A major portion of government investment is going to build data centers.” [1]

 

1. World News: China Charts a Pragmatic Approach in Global AI Race. Chin, Josh; Huang, Raffaele.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 02 Sep 2025: A7.